68 CAMPING WITH THE PRESIDENT 



hand almost blood-warm. I suppose they found bet- 

 ter feeding where the water was warm. On the table 

 they did not compare with our Eastern brook trout. 



I was pleased to be told at one of the hotels that 

 they had kalsomined some of the rooms with material 

 from one of the devil's paint-pots. It imparted a soft, 

 delicate, pinkish tint, not at all suggestive of things 

 satanic. 



One afternoon at Norris's, the President and I took 

 a walk to observe the birds. In the grove about the 

 barns there was a great number, the most attractive 

 to me being the mountain bluebird. These birds we 

 saw in all parts of the Park, and at Norris's there was 

 an unusual number of them. How blue they were, 

 breast and all. In voice and manner they were almost 

 identical with our bluebird. The Western purple finch 

 was abundant here also, and juncos, and several kinds 

 of sparrows, with an occasional Western robin. A 

 pair of wild geese were feeding in the low, marshy 

 ground not over one hundred yards from us, but when 

 we tried to approach nearer they took wing. A few 

 geese and ducks seem to winter in the Park. 



The second morning at Norris's, one of our team- 

 sters, George Marvin, suddenly dropped dead from 

 some heart affection, just as he had finished caring for 

 his team. It was a great shock to us all. I never saw 

 a better man with a team than he was. I had ridden 

 on the seat beside him all the* day previous. On one 

 of the "formations" our teams had got mired in the 

 soft, putty-like mud, and at one time it looked as if 

 they could never extricate themselves, and I doubt 

 if they could have, had it not been for the skill with 

 which Marvin managed them. We started for the 



